Engaruka

Engaruka is an abandoned system of ruins in the Great Rift Valley of northern Tanzania (coord|2|58|58.80|S|35|57|0.00|E|type:landmark_region:TZ|display=inline,title), famed for its irrigation and cultivation system. It is considered one of the most important Tanzanian archaeological sites.

The Site

Sometime in the 15th century, an iron age farmer community with a large continuous village area on the footslopes of the Rift Valley escarpment, housing several thousand people developed an intricate irrigation and cultivation system, involving a stone-block canal channelling water from the "Crater Highlands" rift escarpment to stonelined cultivation terraces (Stump, Daryl 2006, Laulumaa, Vesa 2006). Measures were taken to prevent soil erosion and the fertility of the plots was increased by using the manure of stall fed cattle. For an unknown reason Engaruka was abandoned at latest in mid 1800s. The site still poses many questions, including the identity of the founders, how they developed such an ingenious farming system, and why they left (Stump, Daryl 2003). The site has been linked to the Sonjo, a people living some 60 miles to the northwest known for their use of irrigation systems in agriculture and similar terraced village sites (Nurse, Derek & Rottland, Franz 1991). New studies have revealed lot of unknown perspectives of the past of Engaruka, for example the Middle Stone Age and Neolithic Stone Age occupation history of the area (Seitsonen, Oula 2005).

Explorers

The first explorer to record the existence of these ruins was Dr. Gustav Fisher, who passed them on July 5, 1883, and compared them to the tumbled-down walls of ancient castles. Drs Scoeller and Kaiser mentioned the ruins of "Ngaruku" including great stone cricles and dams in 1896-97. The first detailed and archaeological investigation was by Hans Reck, in 1913. Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey investigated the site in 1935, but were disappointed by the lack of burial sites. They estimated a population of 30,000 (now considered exaggerated).

Through the years archaeological studies have been conducted for example through the later part of the 20th century by Dr. John Sutton of British Institute in Eastern Africa, and in 2002-2005 by Professor Ari Siiriainen's team from the Department of Archaeology University of Helsinki in Cultural Ecology of the East African Savanna Environment in a Long-term Historical Perspective -Project. More recently studies have been done by Dr. Darryl Stump of the University College of London as part of his PhD thesis work in 2001-2004. Started in 2006 the University of Helsinki project continued Siiriainen's work in a continuation project LESE (Long-term Ecology of the Savannah Environment) which concentrates on studying the connections between Engaruka and Sonjo area.

Modern Engaruka

Engaruka is also the name of a modern village not far from the archaeological site. The Maasai herd cattle throughout the rift region, and conduct tourist tours of the site.

References

* [http://www.ntz.info/gen/n00162.html Engaruka] Collection of excerpts from different sources, by the nTZ, Northern Tanzania Information Resource
* [http://www.helsinki.fi/arkeologia/afrikka_backround.htm Helsingin yliopisto - Arkeologia] University of Helsinki page on investigations of Lanet and Engaruka in 2002-2005, in English.
* [http://www.biea.ac.uk/research_pages/engaruka.htm Rise and fall of intensive irrigation, Engaruka, Tanzania] British Institute in Eastern Africa page on Engaruka.
* [http://www.humangeo.su.se/research/project/islands/moreproject/linked_projects.htm Engaruka: the success and abandonment of an integrated irrigation system, c15th - 17th centuries] Abstract of paper by John Sutton
* [http://archaeology.about.com/od/eterms/g/engaruka.htm Engaruka (Tanzania)] Dictionary of Archaeology entry on About.com
* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/TZ/0/Engaruka.html Maps, Weather, and Airports for Engaruka, Tanzania, United Rep. of] Satellite maps and weather graphs, including photo of the crater highlands lake related to the site.
* Laulumaa, Vesa. 2006. ‘The Population of Ancient Engaruka – a new approach’, in "Azania" XLI.
* Nurse, Derek & Franz Rottland. 1991. ‘Sonjo: Description, Classification, History’, in "Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika", 12/13, 171-289.
* Seitsonen, Oula. 2005. ‘Stone age observations in the engaruka area’, in [http://safa.rice.edu/bulletin.cfm "Nyame akuma"] 63, 27-32.
* Stump, Darryl. 2003. ‘The soils of Engaruka: preliminary soil exhaustion tests on a pre-colonial agricultural landscape in Tanzania’, in "Researching Africas Past New Contributions from British Archaeologists".
* Stump, Daryl. 2006. ‘The development and expansion of the field and irrigation systems at Engaruka, Tanzania’, in "Azania" XLI.